Miles Davis occupies a unique position in jazz history. Rather than being defined by a single sound or period, his career maps directly onto many of the music’s most important shifts, from cool jazz and hard bop to modal jazz, electric fusion, and beyond.

Taken together, the stories and articles below trace how Miles Davis shaped — and reshaped — jazz, mulitple times.

The 23 Greatest Jazz Albums of the 1950s

The Best Live Jazz Fusion Albums Ever Released

If I Were a Bell: How a Broadway Showtune Became a Miles Davis Standard

Miles Davis Recorded Four Classic Albums in Two Days — To Get Out of His Contract

Miles Davis Played a Pimp on Miami Vice. Here’s the Story.

Miles Davis and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Why Miles Davis Became Obsessed With Jimi Hendrix

Miles Davis in Paris: Elevator to the Gallows

Dig: A Long-Lost Miles Davis Broadcast (Paris, 1957)

Miles Davis 1973–75: How Pete Cosey Helped Redefine Jazz Guitar

Miles Davis’ Brutal Police Beating (Eyewitness Account)

Amandla (1989) — Miles Davis in the late electric era